Archive for September, 2011

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As I’ve said before, I’m a 70’s baby and I love 80’s music. This mix features my favorite era in R&B. While I was a 10 year old eating my Mr. T cereal and watching Miami Vice on Friday nights; my 20 year old Sister was hitting DC clubs and dancing to some of the songs featured on this mix. While I was never old enough to club in the 80’s myself, I lived vicariously through my big Sister. She’d show me the latest dances and I’d watch and think, “I just can’t wait to be grown.” I knew what music was hot by the albums and cassettes my sister would buy. Those albums are now a major part of my record collection today and those memories are the inspiration behind Clubbin’ in the 80’s.

This mix is my thank you to all of you in the DJ BeTray family. Thank you for your support as we approach my 1 year anniversary of DJ BeTray.com. Please enjoy this mix and bump it at your next party! Love!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This is all that’s up right now. I’m so happy to see a mainstream hip hop album bang like this! Watch the Throne, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s epic partnership, will be my official fall hip hop album; that means constant rotation for the next few months. The second single, Otis is that perfect first bite that has you anxious to enjoy the rest of the meal. Otis is the only song on the album solely produced by West. It features a strong sample of Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness. The song is laced with bass that flows down your back in through the floor. Obviously I love good R&B samples, Watch the Throne is full of them, including samples of Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield. Beyonce, and Frank Ocean of Odd Future make guest appearances and producers include Swizz Beatz, 88-Keys, RZA, Q-Tip, the Neptunes and of course Kanye West. The beats and music throughout the album are so next level, some tracks left me speechless. Lyrically, Jay is at the top of his game, as usual, and I truly believe Kanye is spittin’ the best rhymes of his career. While some critics have gotten into the back and forth of the album’s meaning and exactly what Jay and Kanye were trying to accomplish, I’ll say this… Jay is Jay and Kanye is Kanye; they’re beautifully complex and doing what they do the way they do it – that means discussions of going from broke to insanely rich, regret, arrogance, extravagance, some racial and political commentary; all mixed in with a few “bitches” and sprayed over tight beats.